Chance Meetings
by Ressick
Summary: Vaguely post-9x03. Two surgeons meet at a bar.


Post 9x03. I have no idea where this came from. I randomly pictured Teddy and Erica at a bar together, and this kind of came out.

X-X-X-X

Teddy slid onto a stool at the far end of the hotel bar. Except for a quiet blonde next to her, doctors loudly drank and flirted all around her while she concentrated on her cell phone. Signaling for the bartender, she checked her voicemail. When there was a shot placed in front of her, she dialed.

"Hey. Yeah, I called today, she didn't answer yet again… I talked to one of the amputee specialists at work, and I sent you some information, care of the hospital… No, no, I wouldn't send that to the apartment. But it's coping strategies, for both of you, if she'll listen, and it might be different than the material you have available as a civilian… She fired another one? … Oh, Callie… No, I'm at this conference in New York, I was locked in to speak months ago… Yes, about our paper. A few people have asked after her, but I just said she was still recovering. At least the presentation was well received… I got my schedule rearranged, I can visit for a long weekend next month, if you think she'll see me. And even if she doesn't, I can take Sofia for the night or something, give you time to take care of yourself… Oh, how was Mark's funeral? I'm sorry I couldn't make it, but I barely got the time for this conference pre-approved last month. Are you okay? … Callie, you have to take care of yourself, you're running ragged. I can tell over the phone, and if I can tell, Bailey is two seconds away from sitting your ass down and lecturing you about it… Oh, okay, I'll let you go. Take care of yourself." She set the phone down on the bar, and gulped her shot, gesturing the bartender for another one.

The quiet woman, who had spent Teddy's phone call concentrating on the glass of red wine in front of her, spoke up. "You must be from Seattle Grace," she said, her voice low and soft.

Teddy looked at her companion, trying to place the other woman. "Yes. Well, I was until a few months ago, but I have friends there. I suppose a bunch of doctors in a plane crash was going to be news at a conference like this, huh?"

The other woman shrugged, "Maybe. I worked there myself, so I tend to keep an ear to the ground about it in the first place."

"Oh? What department?" Teddy had a feeling in her stomach about this conversation.

"I was their head of Cardio for awhile. But I'm at Mass Gen now," the woman tipped back her drink.

"Erica Hahn," Teddy breathed. Of course she'd heard about the other woman. If not from the gossiping nurses, then from Cristina and Callie.

"In the flesh. Let me guess, the nurses gossiped about me? And not terribly kindly?" Erica gave a wry smile, the gesture softening the hard look on her face.

"Yes. Then again, I had your job, and my best friend married your ex, so I suppose I heard quite a lot about you considering. Teddy Altman, former head of cardio, now with MEDCOMM," she replied, laughing at the slight look of shock on Hahn's face.

Erica took a long drink of her fresh glass of wine. "Cal got married?" Her voice was soft, unbelieving, a little hurt.

Teddy had often expected to be angry if she ever ran into Erica Hahn – after all, she'd heard the stories and gossip of how broken Callie had been, how wrecked, and Arizona had still been piecing the other woman back together when she had arrived in Seattle. Instead, she felt sympathy. The arrogant, decisive surgeon was nowhere to be seen, replaced by the still wounded woman before her. "Yeah, last spring." She picked up her cell, flipping through the photos she kept on it. She pulled up one that Kepner had taken at the reception and forwarded to her – she was in the photo along with Callie, Arizona and Bailey. "Here," she angled the phone so Hahn could see it.

Erica stared at the photo, grief warring with surprise on her face. She hated that Callie Torres, even states away, years later, could disrupt her control. "She married a woman?"

"Arizona Robbins, pediatrics," Teddy replied, pride and affection warring with grief in her voice.

"She was in the plane crash. I remember hers was the only name I didn't recognize," Erica said softly.

"Yes."

"Is she… okay?" The articles Erica had read mentioned the death of Lexie Grey and the pilot in the woods, and she'd heard the rumors of Mark Sloan's death at the conference before listening in to Teddy's phone conversation confirmed it.

Teddy took a deep breath. "I think she will be. Eventually. Callie won't give up on her. Won't walk away."

Erica felt the words like a body blow, though she doubted Teddy meant it that way. "No, no she won't." _Not like I did,_ she thought.

Silence fell between them for a long moment, each taking a drink. "You know, I found Callie's yoga mat in the back of her hall closet once. I was looking for a spare umbrella to borrow. And when I said she should come with me sometime to my class, she sputtered something about since her old yoga buddy moved, she didn't want to bother anymore. It was Yang who told me her old yoga buddy was you." Teddy fiddled with her shot glass, "And Mark said once, when I was kicking his ass, that she's great at darts, but I've never seen her play."

Erica felt a tightness in her chest. She had, a year after leaving Seattle, realized that though her and Callie's relationship probably wouldn't have lasted, their friendship could have. If she hadn't walked out into a parking lot one night and never returned. "I miss her," she breathed, "I miss my best friend." Something she'd only admitted to the therapist she'd grudgingly started to see after one too many nightmares.

"Now's not a good time. She's got a lot on her plate at the moment. But I think she misses you too," Teddy replied. She fished in her small clutch, and pulled out a business card. "Keep in touch with me. I'll tell her about this conversation. And when she's ready, I'll let you know." She took a deep breath, and used her best glare on the woman in front of her. "But know this. When a gunman wandered through Seattle Grace, when all those people died, Callie Torres stood in front of Gary Clark, bodily between him and Arizona Robbins. Callie shielded Arizona from a crazy gunman. Arizona gave up the Carter Madison grant for Callie. There is nothing that can break those two apart. They're the aspirational couple for the entire hospital. Understand that, and you might get your friend back. Ignore it, and Callie will rip you to shreds, if Arizona doesn't beat you to death with a brick first."

She nodded. An angry Callie Torres was frightening, even for the Erica Hahn. "Thank you." And she was thankful. Erica was bad at small talk, awkward around people, and didn't make friends easily. Callie was worth fighting for, worth fighting through the baggage and hurt between them. Even if she had to wait. She'd already done so for years. She could hold on a little longer to get her friend back.

El fin.


End file.
